Children & Family Ministries
Welcome to Children and Family Ministries
Dear Families,
Grace and Peace to you and your dear ones as you embark on a new school year!
Today’s daily text read.
“Jesus said, ‘The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how.’”
“Did you get your lunch? Remember, your Dad is picking you up at dismissal. Do you have hockey practice in this rain?” Our seeds will sprout and grow …and we are not the ones who will make them grow. I have to admit, as a mother and a wife I tend to stand beside the garden and say to the seeds grow, grow, grow or you need more water, you need more sun . . .but the scripture reminds me that we do not give the growth, because we “do not know how.” And yet, we try. One would think that we parents and teachers are solely responsible for the how our children learn and grow.
And you can read the anxiety in our body language. Teachers seem to be carrying something across their shoulders at the back of their necks . . . The bus driver swings the door open and waits, watching for the right kid to jump off at the right place. And in the eyes of parents you can see the “trying to be brave, for the sake of my kids,” look. Of course our children carry our anxiety. You can see them check and recheck that schedule in their sweaty hand or adjusting their book bags, yokes that weigh almost as much as they do. It’s school time again, a time of relief, dread, joy, fear and worry. Early judgments of character are being made everywhere and by everyone.
I’m the mother of two, a new middle schooler and a high school student. And my husband Chris is a teacher for children who have limited English proficiency. It occurred to me that the most important thing I can do as a wife, mother and pastor is listen . . . and pray. I want to pay attention to all those hard working adults who go beyond the call of duty to prepare for my children. I want to listen, not only to my own family, but to all those who serve in the education of our children, in such a way that they feel heard.
Listening is one of the most powerful kinds of prayer. Who doesn’t yearn to be heard, to be accepted, understood and respected. When our tender sprouts are shooting upward, our job of tending has more to do with giving them trellis and simply letting God do the growing. Listening is that trellis that opens the path for the tendrils to wind as they please. Listening means we keep our own anxiety at bay and pray for peace and calm, that we might hear what needs hearing. May I, too, be slower to judge and quicker to listen.
Something in me wants to invite everyone, parents, teachers, students, custodians, to become boys and girls again, and to climb up into the lap of Jesus, our Teacher, who promises that our burdens might be light, even easy, if we but take his yoke.
I offer a prayer for all you who share in shaping the lives of our children and reach them in ways that we cannot.
A Prayer for Those who Teach and Care for our Children
May God fill you with all grace in full measure, so that you might know that you have everything you need to fulfill the high calling of teaching.
May God give you kindness that greets the children and their parents with a smile.
May God give you gentleness, so that children might feel safe and settled in your presence,
May God give patience . . . with everyone who asks more of you than you can possibly give on a given day.
May God give you self-control, so that you might be a teacher who is calm, connected and able to laugh.
And may you persevere not only in endurance, but also in the things that make for a lively, thriving and creative classroom.
Amen
A prayer for Students
May you feel the presence of your best friend, Jesus, who is by your side, and know that with him by your side, you have been given everything you need.
May God give you a patient heart as you try to understand your teachers.
May you be of good courage, and hold fast to what you already know that is good.
May you be unafraid, and hear the message that the angels brought, “Fear not, for God is with you and will help you.”
And may you let your light shine, for God created each of you with very special gifts, just so that you might shine right where you are.
And may God give you peace, that you might bless others with God’s perfect peace.
Amen.
